Immigrants in the 313: 'This is Where the Future Begins'

This story is about Detroit, but is the story of this country. PLEASE read the whole thing and think about your city. DP

By: Walter Wasacz

You know it when you see it -- or better yet -- immerse yourself in it.

It can be charted, measured and put under statistical scrutiny, but a neighborhood that benefits from the presence of immigrants is best appreciated in real time, on its own terms, in dramatic living color.

The early voice of Detroit was French, Irish, German, Italian, Polish, Ukrainian, Spanish and Yiddish. Many of those voices have disappeared into the greater American tapestry, but others came to replace them: Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Albanian, Arabic, Urdu, Bengali and others. And to ensure urban vitality in the region, history suggests there need be a lot more to come in the future.

Take a stroll down Vernor, come to the Junction intersection and look around, left, right and back. This urban panorama reveals a variety of human and business activity; professional services, clothing stores, markets, restaurants, bars -- people, people,everywhere. At the southwest corner stands the neighborhood's centerpiece, the Most Holy Redeemer Parish, which serves as a house of worship, elementary school and community center.

"We call it our anchor store because it is the real heart of the community," says Kathy Wendler, president of the Southwest Detroit Business Association, a group that has lent support and services to the neighborhood since 1957. "Holy Redeemer is where the people who live here come together for weddings, baptisms, funerals, religious holidays and all kinds of neighborhood programs. It's been the magnet for activity for a long time."

The parish was organized by immigrants -- Irish Catholics moving west from rapidly populating Corktown. Germans, Poles, Hungarians and other Europeans soon followed, creating one of the 19th century's largest American church congregations housed in one of its most ornate -- and largest -- cathedrals. Beginning in the early part of the 20th century, the demographics of church and the surrounding neighborhood went through even more interesting diversification.

Mexicans began arriving for migrant agricultural jobs and for work in the auto plants that were just a streetcar or bus ride away. Those factories included General Motors plants, the Cadillac Fleetwood and Clark St., and the massive Ford Rouge on the west end of Vernor in Dearborn.
Be sure to read the rest of this story! This is only a small part of it.